These photos were taken by Paul.

Here’s some more photos taken of our wonderful weekend! Thanks to Erin, Louis, Geoff, Sian, Alex H, and Claire.

OUR 60th ANNIVERSARY WEEKEND

We had a great weekend which started really well at The Britannia at Llanmadoc on Thursday evening, with really good food and sunshine. 

First, a bit of history. We started life in 1966 when the late Laurie Moseley talked local lads from the village into forming a dance side called The Mighty Men of Madoc, starting initially as a sword dance side, performing the Rapper Dance, a fast, energetic, exciting spectacle. The side went on to include Morris dancing as the Men of Sweyn’s Ey, until 2019 when we welcomed women to join the side which then became Sweyns Ey Morris. It was quite poignant for us that our founder Laurie’s daughter Claire came to watch us and reminisce about our formative days.

Saturday saw us joined by Cardiff Morris, Full Moon Morris, Carreg Las, ISCA & White Hart Morris, as well as ex members of our side. Our two tour buses were a whole one hour late picking us up, but this worked to our advantage as our initial intention to dance at Oxford Street and Mumbles sea front was totally scuppered by heavy rain and it was clear that we would not be able to dance for a whole 2 hours at our intended dance venues. The Swansea Tour comprising Carreg Las, ISCA, White Hart and Sweyn’s Ey Team 1, piled into the Cross Keys in Swansea who welcomed us in, served us coffee and ale and cheerfully invited us to dance in the back room, which we gratefully did for the next hour! We might think about doing an evening tour in the winter months at the Keys as it is a good place! Similarly, the White Rose in Mumbles responded positively to the coach-load taken there.

We next visited The Gower Inn where sunshine broke through the grey, clouds scudding in from the west, allowing us to dance outside and also eat the good lunch provided to us. Things appeared to be improving weather wise when we danced at The Gower Heritage Centre, giving us complementary Curly Boar Cider which we helped create last September! The King Arthur was also danced at and is a place designed for Morris dancing. They were able to accommodate us despite having a large wedding party visiting them on the same day as our anniversary event.

Then things got a little wild! Driving out to the Worm’s Head Hotel showed a seascape affected by extremely high winds running at 30 knots plus! The magnificent Rhossili Bay was a boiling mass of waves and as soon as we left the bus, several hats went flying! It was clear to us that trying to dance in such conditions would be foolhardy, possibly dangerous, so we were left with no option but to cancel & have a drink in the Worm’s Head instead! Sad but totally the correct thing to do given the circumstances.

Saturday evening saw us back at our accommodation for Ben the Squire’s speech, enormous amounts of curry, ale & cider and playing of tunes and disco music and Bob Dylan which went on to the dawning of the day!

Sunday gave us a dry spell and the last dance session of our weekend at The Railway Inn which had brewed the remarkably good Sweyn’s Ale! The relaxed dancing done by Carreg Las, a side comprising Cardiff & Full Moon dancers and Sweyn’s Ey who managed to field two sets of dancers for most of the dances, brought a successful finale to a great weekend.

It is worth recording the people who attended our weekend who used to be members of Sweyn’s Ey Morris back in the day. Many thanks for coming to our weekend and for all you did in the past to make Sweyn’s Ey become the success it currently is!
Dancers: Keith Leech, Jim Birch, Dave Lock,
Julian Lander, John Jeater, Andy Baker, Nigel Britton, & Yotin Wallace.
Musicians: Martin Hughes,Jane Ruel, & Ann Livesley

We’re truly thankful to everyone who joined our weekend, all the venues who allowed us to perform and our sponsors, The Gower Society, The Morris Ring, the Swansea Brewing Company, and Shed Head Cider who all gave us fantastic support. 

The weekend did not happen by magic, however, and a small industrious group of people put a lot of hard work into the organisation of the Anniversary event. Alistair, Di, Erin, Geoff, Sian, and especially Nigel, should be thanked by everyone in the side for the great amount of effort they put in to making it a highly successful weekend!
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Photos & words by Paul Tarrant

We danced at 2 splendid pubs yesterday evening in conditions that were slightly cooler than they were on Wednesday with us giving a performance almost as electrifying as the immense storm that we had then! However it was still incredibly warm, but hey, we’re not complaining!

We started at the Killay Village Square and entertained a group of people drinking outside the pub there, and a crowd that came and went from the Co-Op! We were able to put two sets of six up to perform dances that included Riggs of Doom and Curly Boar, as well as Hunt the Squirrel, Sheriff’s Ride, and Ring of Bells, all of which looked pretty tidy from the photographer’s viewpoint.

A quick, short drive found us at a very busy Railway Inn. We could not dance immediately due to a pub quiz, but that gave us ample time to go investigate the Sweyn’s Ale that they have brewed specifically for our forthcoming 60th Anniversary Ale which is being held during the weekend of 4-7th June. The Sweyn’s Ale is superb at 4.5%, giving notes on the palate of slight citrus, and with just the right balance of the 4 varieties of hops contained within it! You as members of the public can enjoy this ale as much as us, although be warned, there was quite a queue of Sweyn’s Ey Morris eager to buy this golden nectar to assuage their considerable thirsts!!!
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We did several dances of which Grenadiers, Y Gaseg Eira, Vandals and Curly Boar were the highlights, before the midges started taking chunks out of us, and banishing us to the comfort of the back bar room to chat and socialise. A great evening out.
Pics by Claire, Margaret, and Paul.

We sent a side of 2 musicians & 7 dancers to this year’s festival in what promised to be the hottest day of the year so far! We started at the Three Crowns pub which provided excellent ale to maintain essential hydration. The Usual from Frome brewery was a clear winner and was a recommendation from one of the locals drinking there! Geoff ascertained this essential information.

We danced in company of Icknield Way, whose Squire Jim Birch danced with us until 1977! Summertown Morris did a great version of Wheatley Trunkles, and Treacle Eater Clog performed some great dances.

We also danced at Borough Parade with England’s Glory, Moonlight Morris, and Wickham Morris before joining the Morris Parade, and dancing Speed the Plough for much of the way. We must be getting fitter because the parade did not seem to last very long! We gave a display at the top of the High Street before reaching burn out in the afternoon sun.
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So many good sides at the festival, plus several of our ex members. It was good to see Julian Lander, who took some photos, Martin Hughes, Dave Lock, and the aforementioned Jim Birch. M.J.Searle was there, but we did not see her.

Nothing written up on this tour! Come on someone, give us some words!

​GOWER HERITAGE CENTRE CIDER & CHEESE FEST SAT 16th MAY
We were invited to entertain at the Heritage Centre in Parkmill and so we had 11 dancers and 3 musicians turn out for this goodly event. Di & Kevin played a few folky tunes on the open mic outside before we did two dance sets, starting in the Courtyard indoors as it was raining outside. We danced British Grenadiers, Riggs of Doom, Vandals of Hammerwich, Postman’s Knock and Bonnie Green Garters. One lady in the audience could be seen singing along to the latter dance tune (an incognito dancer perhaps?) and another called Lesley celebrated her birthday so she was treated to us singing the time honoured song!
Richie Saunders called Nigel up onto the stage to acknowledge our performances at the Heritage Centre over the last decade and to tell us how the barrel of cider he is brewing for us is coming along! Nigel responded by donating one of our fab new badges to Richie & telling of our forthcoming 60th Anniversary weekend planned for 4-7th June.
The rain having ceased we went outside to dance a bit more where we did Curly Boar, Valentines, Sherrif’s Ride, Badby Shooting and Bonnie Green to finish off the dancing, although some, it is told, went on to party a bit and drink some of the wonderful cider that was available! It’s all happening down here mun!
Pics by Erin & Paul.

Cold, sunny and definitely chilly was how it was for us dancing out on Thursday evening! Still, we had a good time, dancing at the castle at the top end of Wind Street, although a heavy shower of rain saw us seeking shelter in the ever excellent No Sign Bar before visiting the wonderful Queen’s Hotel in the Marina Quarter. Special mention must be made of Louis who danced out for the very first time with us. Well done!
Here’s some photos from the evening taken by Paul & Alison H.

MUMBLES, THURS 7th MAY
We performed at the ever popular Mumbles Piaza last night. We did a fairly radical first set of dances which included Y Gaseg Eira, Banks of the Lea, Rigs of Doom, Curly Boar, and British Grenadiers. We involved some of the audience in Brighton Camp.
A quick breather, and set 2 included Greensleeves, Ring of Bells, Upton Stick, Sherriff's Ride, Postman’s Knock and Bonnie Green Garters to finish.
Here’s photos taken by Di and Paul.

MURTON FETE, MONDAY 4TH MAY

We danced at the fete earlier today, held on Murton Green, and whilst prospects looked a bit dodgy at first due to rain, it had miraculously dried up by the time of our expected dance slot. That’s the power of the Morris for you!

We did a set that included, Grenadiers, Banbury Bill, Vandals of Hammerwich, Curly Boar, Postman’s Knock and Bonnie Green Garters, before handing over to the local Brownies who gave a demonstration of Maypole dancing.
A new stick proved to be a little bit on the rotten side with one breaking a couple of times during Grenadiers, and whilst Geoff tried putting the blame on Paul, closer inspection showed the stick to be totally rotten and its failure was nothing to do with him! Whilst on the subject of sticks, Alex lamented that Nigel had left his special stick behind, the one that no one else dare use under any circumstances. Keith was dancing with said stick, and Alex had failed to notice that it was in his hands! 

Pics below show some of our dances & were taken by Paul & Di.